Researchers film glacier calving massive iceberg in Greenland

A new video shows a massive iceberg separating from a Greenland glacier. Photo by Denise Holland/NYU

July 9 (UPI) -- Greenland's Helheim Glacier has lost a massive chunk of ice to the ocean.

A new video -- captured by a team of New York University researchers and shared online this week -- shows the dramatic calving event. The four-mile-long iceberg can be seen separating from the glacier and flowing down the fjord towards the Atlantic.

The video offers visual evidence of the realities of global warming and sea level rise, researchers say. It may also offer a chance to study iceberg calving.

"Knowing how and in what ways icebergs calve is important for simulations because they ultimately determine global sea-level rise," Denise Holland, the logistics coordinator for NYU's Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and NYU Abu Dhabi's Center for Global Sea Level Change, said in a news release. "The better we understand what's going on means we can create more accurate simulations to help predict and plan for climate change."

In the video, the iceberg can be seen smashing into another iceberg further down the fjord, causing additional fragmentation.

"The range of these different iceberg formation styles helps us build better computer models for simulating and modeling iceberg calving," said Holland.